The Flash Review by Henry Tran

The Flash 3.23: Finish Line

Written By:Aaron and Todd Helbing

Directed By:David McWhirter

I've been debating in my head the past few
weeks about what the high points of this third season of The Flash were. It was
hard for me to think of many. Some parts of the Flashpoint timeline maybe, a
couple of new, more interesting Rogues, although that fizzled out just as
quickly as many of the season's other subplots, and the sight of Gorilla City.
Also can't forget the complete transformation of Caitlin into Killer Frost.

Notice what's largely missing from that paltry
list: The main plot of Savitar and the murder of Iris West. The reveal of
Savitar's real identity was botched. The
development of Wally West into Kid Flash. The high point of the season is a tie
between the musical episode "Duet" and the show's contribution to the
four show, four part "Invasion!" crossover event. Both episodes had
nothing to do with the main arc of the season. Which demonstrates to a tee the
multitude of problems and general malaise that has taken over this show since
the end of its first season. There was the hope, however small it was from
myself personally, that the season finale could correct some of these problems
(asking it to correct all of them would be too much) and perhaps restore
whatever goodwill is left to salvage from the debacle. Yes, I'm being overly
negative on this show, but it's for good reason. The show hasn't recognized its
deep issues and taken the necessary steps to course correct during its run this
season. It took news from outside the show proper to generate that bit of
optimism. The show will do a hard reset next season, with a villain who isn't a
speedster for Barry and company to challenge.

But that's for the near future. Here, the
characters on the show have to wade through a bunch of nonsensical gobbledygook
about time travel and changing the present to change the future, all to
essentially pull a fast one (no pun intended) on the audience. It turns out,
Savitar didn't really kill Iris. He killed H.R., who disguised himself as Iris
via his face-switching or face-disguising tech in order to make the ultimate
sacrifice. He preserved the integrity of the team, and created some sort of
time paradox that Savitar, aka Evil Barry, has to outmaneuver before it catches
up to him.

Or something. I have to admit this: I had a
real hard time fully understanding the mechanics of the time travel paradox
both Evil Barry and Present Time Barry laid out for us. At least with Legends
of Tomorrow, it recognized the goofiness and folly of figuring out how time
travel worked so that it could shift its focus onto other things. The Flash has
been drowning in this kind of stuff for a while now, probably since Barry first
went into the future and saw Savitar kill Iris in front of him. Being mired in
such confounding plotting obviously leads to viewers like me zoning out until a
clear resolution can eventually reveal itself.

That said, the climax of the episode was rather
effective. Present Time Barry tries to appeal to whatever good is left in Evil
Barry by having the members of Team Flash talk him into some form of
forgiveness. Which is difficult to come by since he did kill H.R. It all sorts
itself out by having Evil Barry kidnap Cisco, force him to adjust the Speed
Force Bazooka to "fracture" Savitar enough so that he occupies all
points in time. Yeah. This show was never much for logical consistency. But you
learn to go with it. The showdown near the end of the episode makes wading
through the nonsense worth it somewhat. Cisco changes the Bazooka to briefly
fracture Savitar (in a rather cool image of multiple Savitar fragments appearing
before a portal), then it becomes a "Speed Force skeleton key" that
allows Jay Garrick to free himself from the Speed Force Prison to fight
Savitar. Eventually, Present Barry takes over the Savitar suit (which looks
much more intimidating when glowing red) to distract Evil Barry enough to allow
Iris to shoot him. He then fades away along with the Savitar suit.

Team Flash gets its happy ending, though that's
not entirely true with regard to Caitlin. She's now in an unknown place within
the series itself. She's not Killer Frost, but she also chose not to ingest the
formula that would turn her back into the old Caitlin. It's not quite hitting
the Reset Button Plot, but it also leaves the character stuck in neutral. Just
another thing for the show to have to resolve for next season. The happy ending
doesn't last too long, as a Speed Force storm hits Central City. Here's where
the show taps into the emotional core that it ignored for practically the
entire season. It's always been the show's most effective side, which makes the
writers' ignorance of it that much more galling. Barry sacrifices himself to
the Speed Force prison that Jay once occupied. It's the rightful penance that
he has to do to correct his selfish decision to create the Flashpoint timeline.
The lack of consequences for that action has long been a sticking point of mine
as this season went on. So it's great for the show to acknwledge that and work
it into the narrative. It doesn't make up for the multitude of errors and bad
decisions made during the bulk of the season, but it gives hope to the thought
that the writers can plan a better season.

Our Grade:

C+

The Good:

HR will be sorely missed, as he went from annoying to part of the family in short order

The Bad:

The time travel and paradox elements are beyond confusing to the point of ridiculousness

Much of this season lacked cohesion and tension, and that makes the big resolution less effective

Henry Tran is a regular contributor of review for Critical Myth; The Critical Myth Show is heard here on VOG Network's radio feed Monday, Wednesday & Friday. You can follow him on twitter at @HenYay

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